Ministers accused of ignoring pleas from northern England for three months a only agreeing to help once London entered tier 2

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The government has been accused of London-centric decision-making as the chancellor looked set to help to businesses suffering under Covid restrictions less than a week after a ban on household mixing came into force in the capital a after ignoring similar pleas from much of the north of England for almost three months.

The complaints came as a minister said there had been a agood resolutiona to negotiations about putting Greater Manchester under the tightest tier 3 restrictions, after the regionas only Conservative council leader broke ranks with his Labour colleagues to negotiate a bespoke deal for Bolton.

Former president told voters in swing state Pennsylvania: aWhat we do now these next 13 days will matter for decades to comea

Barack Obama returned to the campaign trail on Wednesday to deliver a scathing a and occasionally humorous a condemnation of his successor while envisioning an America led by his former vice-president, Joe Biden.

Sleeves rolled and wearing a black mask that read VOTE, Obama assailed Donald Trump over his response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 Americans and infected millions more, including the president.

International Airlines Group reports quarterly loss as Covid travel curbs in Europe take toll

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International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways, has slashed its flight schedule for the rest of the year as it reported a a!1.3bn loss over the third quarter.

In an unscheduled trading update, the group said it was cutting flights between October and December to just 30% of normal levels, blaming the reintroduction of travel restrictions by many European governments.

Reimagining of Claude Monetas Impressionist water lilies easily surpassed expectations at Sothebyas event

Banksyas reimagining of Claude Monetas impressionist water lilies has fetched more than APS7.5m at auction, easily surpassing expectations.

Show Me The Monet was created in 2005 and adds abandoned shopping trolleys and a traffic cone to the famous garden scene.

In rare news conference, the director of national security says Iran has sent spoofed emails to intimidate voters

Russia and Iran have obtained some US voting registration information and are attempting to sow unrest in the upcoming election, the governmentas national intelligence director said in a rare news conference Wednesday night.

aWe have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails, designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump,a said John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence.

Rainy weather means households are struggling to find affordable ingredients for spicy pickle

South Koreans are facing a shortage of a beloved dietary staple after a summer of extreme weather destroyed crops of cabbages a the main ingredient of kimchi.

In what is being described a full-blown crisis, fields of Napa, or Chinese cabbages were wiped out in August and September, when the Korean peninsula was struck by typhoons, floods and landslides, sparking a sudden spike in the vegetableas price.

Spain becomes first western European country to pass 1m cases; Rome among latest to bring in curfew; German health minister has Covid-19

• Number of US states seeing record one-day deaths rises to six
• Spain is first western European country to pass 1m cases
• 300,000 excess US deaths recorded as Cathay Pacific cuts 5,900 jobs
  
• Women aged 50-60 at greatest risk of along Covida, experts suggest
• See all our coronavirus coverage

9.43am BST

Covid-19 cases are increasing across the United States and surging in the upper midwest, in what appears to be a third pandemic peak, writes Jessica Glenza for the Guardian US.

In North Dakota, cases are increasing at a higher and faster rate per capita than in any other state throughout the pandemic so far.

Related: Covid cases increase across US as upper midwest sees rapid rise

9.41am BST

Parents and professionals have been devastated by the impact of the pandemic on some of the UKas most vulnerable patients

Kelly Stoor gave birth to her daughter, Kaia, 14 weeks early. On 12 March, the midwife held her up for Kelly to see before whisking Kaia off to the neonatal unit for critical care.

Kaia became seriously ill and was transferred to a hospital in Southampton, 50 miles away from home, for specialist treatment just before lockdown was imposed on 23 March. While there, she teetered on the edge of life and death for weeks and underwent life-saving surgery twice.

Prayuth Chan-ocha seeks to end conflict but protesters give him deadline to resign

Thailandas prime minister has lifted severe emergency measures imposed last week to halt months of pro-democracy protests that instead sparked even bigger, nationwide rallies against his government and the monarchy.

Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army general who first came to power in the 2014 coup, said on Wednesday he was moving to de-escalate the situation, adding that the country amust now step back from the edge of the slippery slope that can easily slide to chaosa.

Australia is obliged to let children reunite with their family and cannot exclude citizens from their home, human rights chief tells Senate estimates

Australiaas cap on arrivals from overseas may breach international laws guaranteeing children can be reunited with their families and citizens cannot be excluded from their home, the Australian Human Rights Commission has said.

The commissionas president, Rosalind Croucher, revealed on Thursday it had received aa numbera of human rights complaints about the travel cap and she was concerned Australia amay not be meeting the obligation in article 10 of the Convention on the Rights of the Childa.

Factory closures due to fashion industry order cancellations have pushed many former employees into often dangerous work

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When Hla, 19, tried to go back to work seven months ago after having a baby, there were no jobs. Hundreds of garment factories in Myanmar had closed after western fashion brands cancelled orders due to the pandemic, leaving thousands of women jobless.

As lockdown gripped Yangon, her marriage broke down, her husband left, and her father had to sell his trishaw a no longer able to take passengers in the city. Her parents and baby were hungry. Five months ago, she became a sex worker.

Veteran epidemiologist calls for review, and openness to adopting measures suggested by political rivals, now that voters have given PM a mandate

Jacinda Ardern won New Zealandas election with a commanding majority, in part attributed to her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in her country. But a veteran epidemiologist is exhorting the prime minister to use the political capital gained in her decisive victory to scrutinise the coronavirus response by her government and officials, and adopt strategies proposed by her opponents before Saturdayas vote.

aNew Zealand has shown it can be quite smart and flexible, but we can see weave got these blind spots and we need to have no blind spots,a said Nick Wilson, a University of Otago epidemiologist. aThis is such an unforgiving disease and very few countries are doing it right so we need to smarten up our act quite substantially.a

In her 20s, she set up her own company, publishing everyone from James Ellroy to the Worst Witch series, and changing Britain for the better, book by book

There is a revealing story Margaret Busby tells, about the first novel she published. A family friend had bumped into a former US serviceman called Sam Greenlee. Greenlee said he had written a novel, rejected by 40 American publishers, a satirical thriller about the first African American man hired by the CIA but given a very visible non-job (the point being it was only to improve the CIAas image). The man keeps his head down, learns about guerrilla warfare, then quits to become a freedom fighter in Chicago. Busby took it on, borrowing money so Greenlee could stay in London while the book was edited and, when it was about to be published, in 1969, she sent it to the Observer.

The paper refused it a it didnat extract fiction and certainly not black power novels. Busby sent it back, insisting the paper was wrong. It ran an extract, and The Spook Who Sat By the Door was translated into six languages and turned into a film. When this aparable of institutional racisma, as the New York Times described the film, opened in 1973, newspapers wondered if it would start race warfare. It closed early under FBI pressure, and was not reissued until 2004, then, nearly a decade later, added to the Library of Congressas National Film Registry.

Antarcticaas ocean is one of the most extreme environments on the planet, and home to its most productive life. A new series of images by Cristina Mittermeier, Paul Nicklen and John Weller shows why

The rollicking song about the souring of the 60s has now spawned a film, a musical and a childrenas book. Its creator talks about its meaning a and reveals the family deaths underlying it

When Don McLean was 15 years old, he had a premonition that his father was going to die. Distraught, he ran to tell his grandmother. aDonat be ridiculous, Donny, why would you say such a thing?a she said. aBecause itas going to happen,a the boy replied. A few days later, his father dropped dead right in front of him. aI saw how he looked,a says McLean. aHead turned green. I didnat know what I was going to do without him. He was the king, the boss. He knew everything.a

The singer-songwriter behind the 1971 classic American Pie is speaking from his home in Palm Desert, a town in California where he is now well into what he calls the adesert phasea of his life. Wildfires are still burning across the state. You canat see the sun for the acrid smoke. aIam feeling it in my lungs,a says the 75-year-old.

In the 1930s, thousands of men and women around the world enlisted to fight fascism in Spain. Many survivors went on to play a key role in the fight against the Nazis a but, in some cases, later became powerful servants of brutal regimes

Virgilio FernA!ndez del Real sent his last testament via WhatsApp on 28 November 2019. I opened the video to see him propped up in bed at his colonial-era haASSienda in Guanajuato, Mexico. Bloodshot eyes peered out above a rampant white beard. A big red, gold and purple flag, representing Spainas short-lived republican democracy from the 1930s, was spread out behind him. aMy birthday is on 26 December, when I will be 101,a he wheezed in Spanish, though he clearly did not believe he would make it. aI still have the strength to say: aA!Viva la RepAoblica EspaA+-ola!aa

Nine days before that birthday, his wife, Estela, sent another message: aFifteen minutes ago, Virgilio went on his journey to the Fatheras house, transcending into the infinite. He is no longer suffering.a

Legal experts note role female lawyers took in confronting far-right partyas violent tactics

Behind the bench, before her mostly male audience, as the marathon trial of Golden Dawn entered its last act, supreme court justice Maria Lepenioti did what she has done every week: she kept the peace.

It has not been easy. Emotions have often run high. Even as the curtain is about to come down on proceedings with a ruling on if those convicted will be jailed before an appeal can be heard, the Greek judge, both laconic and low-key, has had to pull off an extraordinary balancing act presiding over a case that has put more Nazi leaders and sympathisers in the dock than at any time since Nuremberg.

It is a gorgeous, engaging, free-to-play, open-world role-playing game a| but at what cost?

Genshin Impact seems to have come from nowhere. A month ago nobody knew what it was; now ads for it are plastered all over the New York subway and itas the talk of gaming Twitter. It has raked in more than $100m (APS75m) in its first two weeks, placing it among the Chinese games industryas most successful forays into the global scene. Thatas because itas a pretty good game that looks, sounds and feels expensive, but is available for free a at least at face value.

Like Nintendoas The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild a which it heavily resembles, at least on a surface level a Genshin Impact is an action-packed role-playing game with a huge world, chock-full of gorgeous vistas to explore by running, climbing and gliding. The appearance might be similar but the feeling is significantly different. Breath of the Wildas aesthetic is based on the beauty and solitude of nature; Genshin, by contrast, is the theme park version of that. Where BotW was content to merely hint at hidden treasures and leave vast spaces in-between, you canat go 30 seconds in Genshin without tripping over some glowy object or mysterious chest. A constant stream of new weapons, trinkets, crafting materials, coins and characters to play with makes it dangerously easy to keep playing.

Sacha Baron Cohenas targeted comedy sequel joins a host of urgent documentaries and TV shows released weeks before the US heads to the polls

Even with the United States on red alert for pandemic containment, a pernicious phrase has been creeping into the public lexicon at an unprecedented rate of spread. Weave been beset by a plague known as athe film we need right nowa, a noxious concept used to justify and amplify the profiles of nearly a dozen releases over the past year.

Related: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm review a cinema's top troll goes baiting in Trump's US

This month the school scrapped several longstanding and unwritten rules that governed the behaviour of students for decades

For more than a century the Takarazuka Music School has transformed thousands of young women from unpolished amateurs into accomplished singers, dancers and actors who perform to sell-out audiences with kitsch adaptations of everything from Japanese manga to classic western novels.

But the school, based in the Japanese hot spring resort from which it takes its name, is not just in the business of nurturing talent.

The Guardian US data editor, Mona Chalabi, casts a sceptical eye over the US polling industry that is once again predicting defeat for Donald Trump. Has it learned lessons from 2016?

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 came as a hammer-blow not just for Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party but also for the opinion polling industry. While they had correctly predicted her majority in the popular vote, they had catastrophically missed the bigger story: Trump had won in the key swing states to clinch the presidency via the electoral college.

The Guardianas US data editor, Mona Chalabi, tells Anushka Asthana that following 2016, the pollsters tweaked their models as they ate humble pie, but this year they are back to projecting the results with similar confidence: and once again they are predicting a defeat for Donald Trump. But have those trends they missed in 2016 been properly accounted for? And should parts of the media be far more sceptical than they currently are about the scientific-sounding claims of the major polling sites?

The Conservative party has a history of crushing its opponents and making an example of them

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When a Conservative administration is at war with its own citizens its strategy is always the same: crush and make an example of them so that no one else will dare contemplate the same course of action. aWhen they beat the miners, they could beat anyone,a said one former West Lothian miner about the minersa strike of 1984-5.

The miners were the praetorian guard of the labour movement that once brought down Ted Heathas Conservative government. Once they were routed, other workers were sent a crude but effective message: pick a fight with us and we will crush you. Economically depressed ex-mining villages are testament to that threat being followed through.

I struggled for 21 years before diagnosis. A new report by MPs isnat enough for the one in 10 UK women who suffer too

You know when something isnat right a in your body, your life, your mind. I certainly did for the 21 years I battled with my periods every month, only to be advised to try strong painkillers and various contraceptive pills, with sympathetic smiles from GPs. I was apparently one of the aunlucky onesa: those women who had been dealt the bad-period hand. The same script was fed to my mum and hers, both of whom dutifully digested the line, passed on from generation to generation like the worst kind of inheritance.

Except it wasnat true. I was ill. Really ill. And it took two years of trying for a baby without a hint of success, and my periods getting worse, for me finally to push for answers. Even then, my guess-diagnosis came via a mate who happened to be an obstetrician, not from a doctor I had sought out. I say guess-diagnosis as I have a condition that can only be formally diagnosed via keyhole surgery. As I sat slumped to one side during a breakfast out one day a she inquired why I wasnat sitting upright. I told her I never can on day one of my period, how my bone-deep pain feels like itas dragging me slowly to the floor. She then gently mentioned a word I am ashamed I couldnat spell, let alone pronounce: endometriosis.

YouGov poll found positive views on LTNs are three times higher than negative ones

They are not purely, or even mainly, about cycling, but the row about low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), a where some residential streets are closed to through motor traffic a epitomises broader attitudes in the UK towards safer, more human-friendly streets.

And amid the daily froth of sometimes entirely false stories about LTNs closing roads, or slowing emergency service response times, one thing is often forgotten: these schemes tend to be very popular.

Between the hi-vis workwear, daily interactions with the public and 5.45am starts, he has a lot to deal with. And then there are his colleagueas pickled eggs

When you have a baby in the UK you get a ared booka personal health record, charting your new arrivalas progress from angry naked mole rat to alarmingly mobile destroyer of worlds. There are pages for developmental milestones: first smile, crawling, babbling. My sonsa grimy versions were mainly used as coasters: I fixated more on milestones such as afirst day without inconsolable cryinga (me). Eventually consigned to a drawer, they are only unearthed to check vaccination records. Now, though, the boys are 18 and 16, disappearing from me as fast as the pandemic will allow, and I find myself noting milestones, finally.

My elder son, taking a break before university, at last has a job: heas working as a Covid tester, 2020as only growth area. Itas a strange new world for him, of hi-vis workwear, daily interactions with the anxious, stroppy public and 5.45am starts. It has brought its own set of firsts. This month alone he has been introduced to both aovertimea (good) and adeduction of tax at sourcea (a cruel blow). We even recently shared a bonding moment on aBabyas first HMRC helpline calla as he tried to get a national insurance number. Thereas no red book page for this, sadly.

Chris Woakes benefited from taking a break from the game and Englandas winter schedule will test how far cricket has come

It has been 15 years since England played in Pakistan, a stretch that feels, nowadays, more than half a lifetime ago. They may go back there again in January. Wasim Khan, the chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has invited them out to play three Twenty20 games in the new year. And given the efforts Pakistan made to help the England and Wales Cricket Board fulfil its own fixture list by touring here during lockdown in the summer, the ECB is bound to agree. The difficulty is England are also supposed to play two Tests against Sri Lanka around the same time, and have a fiveaTest series against India lined up soon afterwards.

So itas going to be a long, busy winter. And unless the ECBas research department is about to announce some radical new advances in quantum mechanics, it may be that the only way through it is going to be for the ECB to send separate squads on simultaneous tours. It wouldnat be the first time.

Liverpool centre-back remains a work in progress but his makeshift partnership with Fabinho just about kept Ajax out

It was hardly a first touch that was going to inspire confidence. Barely 70 seconds had passed at the Amsterdam Arena when Joe Gomez took possession on the left-hand side of his penalty area. Attempting to shepherd the ball back to his goalkeeper, Gomez suddenly felt the breath of an Ajax forward at his shoulder and appeared to panic slightly, with AdriA!n required to sprint forward and smash the ball out for a throw-in, colliding with his 23-year-old teammate in the process.

In the absence of the defensive colossus Virgil van Dijk it has fallen to the softly spoken south Londoner to step into the huge void created by the Dutchmanas untimely injury. But after his shaky start, Gomez will be relieved that it was another defensive mishap in the form of NicolA!s Tagliaficoas comical own goal that stole the headlines against Ajax.

Also featuring Paulo Futre giving Peter Schmeichel the eyes and Richard Osman v Linda Robson a at darts

1) Not many footballers have their name given to stuff, but George Best was one such player. In more recent times, it went to an airport, but 53 years ago this week athe George Best matcha took place, in which the eponymous player beat Scotland more or less on his own. And here he is doing his thing in Northern Irelandas defeat by England in May 1969.

• Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 Los Angeles Dodgers
• Brandon Lowe stars for Tampa Bay with two home runs

Brandon Lowe busted out early and Tampa Bayas bullpen hung on late. The Rays and Dodgers, are now tied after two games in Texas.

Lowe shook loose from his extended postseason slump with two opposite-field homers, and Tampa Bay held off Los Angeles 6-4 on Wednesday night to square the World Series at one game apiece.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Latest: FTSE 100 has fallen to lowest point since mid-May
• IAG to cut capacity to 30% in Q4
• Introduction: Markets worried by Covid-19 cases and lack of US stimulus

9.49am BST

Newsflash: One in six UK hospitality companies face a asevere risk of insolvencya as the Covid-19 crisis hammers the sector.

Thatas according to the latest survey of the UK economy from the Office for National Statistics.

9.21am BST

Consumer goods giant Unilever continues to perform well through the pandemic, thanks to strong demand for hand cleaners, home hygiene products and ice-cream.

In North America, market growth continued to be driven by elevated demand for foods consumed at home. European markets saw a mixed picture on growth and a challenging pricing environment. In China, growth improved slightly compared to the second quarter.

After a strict lock-down earlier in the year, India saw a pick-up in economic activity, even though cases of Covid-19 continued to increase. In Indonesia and Latin America markets contracted in the third quarter.

Our retail foods business grew double digit and tea saw mid-single digit growth as in home eating occasions continued at elevated levels. Hellmannas grew mid-teens, with Hellmannas Vegan now available in 30 markets.

Sales of ice cream grew, driven by both volume and price. Mid-teens growth of in home ice cream, led by brands including Ben & Jerryas and Magnum , more than offset the decline in out of home ice cream sales.

• Democrats to boycott Senate judiciary committee vote on Barrett
• Trump and Biden to have second TV debate in Nashville
• Obama returns to campaign trail for Biden
• FBI warns Russia and Iran obtained US voter data
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9.53am BST

As youad expect thereas been a response from China to news that the state department is designating the US operations of six more China-based media companies as foreign missions. Mike Pompeo announced the move, saying was aimed at pushing back against communist propaganda.

The state department named the newly designated publications as the Yicai Global, Jiefang Daily, the Xinmin Evening News, Social Sciences in China Press, the Beijing Review, and the Economic Daily. It brought to 15 the number of Chinese media outlets listed in this way this year.

9.45am BST

Chuck Schumer was clearly in a combative mood overnight. As well as that appearance on the Rachel Maddow show, he tweeted out a campaign ad highlighting all the times that president Donald Trump has promised that he is going to produce a new healthcare plan for the US, saying aThe election is less than two weeks away, so itas probably about time for President Trump to lie again that he has a healthcare plan that will come out in two weeks.a

The election is less than two weeks away, so itas probably about time for President Trump to lie again that he has a healthcare plan that will come out in two weeks. pic.twitter.com/k1WgEZ9dMT

Meeting called with Germanyas consul general to lodge objections in what Hong Kong regards as ainternal mattersa to China

Hong Kong has accused Germany of aharbouring criminalsa after it granted asylum to a student who fled charges over last yearas pro-democracy protest.

Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, Hong Kongas chief secretary for administration, warned against foreign interference in affairs that were ainternal matters of the Peopleas Republic of Chinaa.

Mike Pompeo says move is part of efforts to push back against apropaganda effortsa; Chinese state media says Beijing will retaliate

The state department is designating the US operations of six more China-based media companies as foreign missions, US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has announced, a move said was aimed at pushing back against communist propaganda.

The US would also launch a dialogue on China with the European Union on Friday, Pompeo said, and that on Sunday he would begin a trip to India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia.

Pair were noticed causing havoc inside bank by customer withdrawing money outside the building

Two amaskeda intruders broke into a California bank using a method straight out of the movies: crawling along air ducts a only to fall through the ceiling tiles and onto the floor.

The raccoons were caught on camera by a customer who noticed the heist while he was withdrawing money outside the bank in Redwood City on Wednesday, ABC Eyewitness News reported.

Planes go down and screens go dark in this slim apocalyptic tale from a master stylist

At some point in the editorial process, a rogue line crept into The Silence. The sentence was about airports, masks and Covid-19, and it all seemed thrillingly current, except that Don DeLillo didnat write it. aSomebody elsea may have wanted the book to seem more contemporary, he said in an interview with the New York Times. aBut I said: aThereas no reason for that.a So they took it out again.a

And now, I am filled with uncertainty, perhaps even a little bit of dread. Who could do such a thing? Are we sure it wasnat the Russians? Was it a bot? Is there a virus now infecting new novels with lines about The Virus? Did society itself, in some communal electronic impulse, write this novel while he was sleeping (while we were all, letas face it, sleeping), because that is the kind of thing that happens in a DeLillo novel, part of his world a which is also our world, by the way a of acyberattacks, digital intrusions, biological aggressionsa. What is the difference between the author and the machine, between the machine and athe mass minda, and what happens when all that merges and dies, at the same time?

The artist talks about the work behind his first ever New York show, Black Vessel, and why white supremacy still threatens vital cultural institutions

aFor a year and a half, I was constantly heating them the fuck up,a jokes artist, professor and social innovator Theaster Gates of the laborious brick-making process behind Black Vessel, his first-ever New York show, which opened earlier this month at Gagosian.

Related: 'My duty as a black man': the artist preserving gazebo where police killed Tamir Rice

How black Americaas anti-hero remains underestimated, even when he speaks to our times

The Autobiography of Malcolm X has sold millions of copies since it was published in the aftermath of its authoras assassination. The memoir has shaped how we view the fiery black revolutionary a his path from street criminal to statesman a not least because it formed the basis of Spike Leeas 1992 film biopic.

The Dead Are Arising sets out to provide a much fuller picture of the life and death of Malcolm X, drawing on interviews with his friends and family to assess his contribution in the context of the times. The book is based on decades of painstaking research by Les Payne, who died before it was completed, and his daughter Tamara.

Over a decade on from launching his action-movie persona, Neeson once again finds himself on the rampage, this time to save a nice little love story

Liam Neeson was 56 when Taken came out in 2008, launching his vengeful vigilante phase. Twelve years on, heas still churning out serviceable action thrillers like this one, despite that screen persona spilling over into a controversial 2019 interview. Neeson stars as Tom, the honest thief of the title, also known a much to his irritation a as the In-and-Out Bandit. Tomas late-in-life bank-robbing spree has netted him $9m, but he decides to go straight for the love of a good woman called Annie (Kate Walsh), and thatas when the trouble starts.

Tom and Annie are just two divorcees in cosy knitwear, trying to make a go of things, but Tomas good intentions fall foul of a pair of corrupt FBI agents, Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Hall (Anthony Ramos), who decide to take the money and frame him for murder. That means Tom must make use of whatever weapons he has at his disposal a fists, guns, explosives, cupcake delivery trucks a to get the truth out.

Swimming and bikepacking, walks and wildlife a and even some witchy social history a make for memorable cold-weather trips

Head to Scotlandas beautiful twin islands of Mull and Iona in winter and you will have beaches and caves to yourselves. Take a warm tent, a decent wetsuit and warm clothes for exploring the cliff paths, pristine white sand beaches and sparkling turquoise waters. Port Ban beach is sheltered and if the sun comes out you are in heaven a you could be in the Caribbean here if the temperature were 20 degrees higher. The surf is good at Ardanalish beach if you are into that a or just walk and enjoy fresh air and open views to the wild Atlantic.
Bill

In early March, I headed to the California desert to explore my emotions and learn ahealthy masculinitya with a group of men

On a Friday evening in early March, two weeks before much of the US went into a coronavirus lockdown, I found myself standing in the California desert, screaming into another manas face.

The next day, the smell of burning sage wafted through the air as I took my shirt off and wrestled a guy inside a metal dome.

I am exempt from wearing one, but it says it can insist I do

I am exempt from wearing a face mask under current UK rules. However, according to Wizz Airas website, I may be forced to wear one for a flight, or else denied boarding. Its conditions of carriage state that exemptions will only be made for passengers with visible signs of disability and that medical certificates will not be accepted. Is this legal?
TT, London

This appears to fly in the face of the Equality Act which makes clear that not all disabilities are visible. Indeed, the majority are not. However, the act does not apply to aviation. Instead, the prevailing rules are provided by EU Regulation (EC) 1107/2006 which states that passengers with disabilities should have aopportunities for travel comparable to other citizensa. It adds, however, that airlines must verify whether a passenger should be denied boarding on safety grounds. Itas this caveat that Wizz Air is presumably relying on.

The UK governmentas next hastily bodged system will probably deal in tranches, now that levels and tiers have been used

What tier are you in? Since the prime minister announced that regions and cities would be placed in different atiersa of Covid-19 restrictions, everyone is completely clear about what they arenat allowed to do, and those carping about the tiers of a clown should stop being so unpatriotic. But why atiersa?

Deriving from the old French tire, a rank or sequence, from tirer (to draw or pull), the noun atiera is adopted in 16th-century English to mean one among several rows of things stacked atop one another: tiers of oars in ancient galleys, tiers of wine casks and so forth. Pretty soon it also acquired a social sense of rank, which persists when people worry that inequalities in healthcare, say, might lead to a atwo-tier systema.

Sundayas referendum could mean end for 1980 constitution that allowed privatization to flourish and led to widespread inequality

Carlos Hinrichs clearly remembers the fear and repression of the Pinochet years.

His father was jailed for supporting Salvador Allende, the leftwing president deposed in Chileas 1973 military coup. His mother and sister were dismissed from their university positions. He saw classmates shot dead at protests.

Many officers of color feel pressure to assimilate into the force, but are also seen as sellouts by their community

As a child in the early 1980s, LeRonne Armstrong spent much of the summer watching cartoons at his grandmaas apartment in west Oaklandas Acorn Projects. The public housing development would later become notorious as the site where Black Panther co-founder Huey Newton was killed in 1989, but for Armstrongas mother, it was where she sent her three children for safekeeping as crack began menacing the city and violent crime was on the rise.

One morning while Armstrong sat around the TV with his siblings and cousins, Oakland police officers kicked in the door, guns drawn. They had a warrant for Armstrongas uncle, who was allegedly involved in the drug trade. They pointed their weapons at the children, then proceeded to ransack the home, flipping over furniture and ripping the stuffing from the bottom of couches. Armstrong recalls the officers agoing into cabinets and pouring cereal outa.

Anatomy lessons for kids, gorillas going bananas and a Brexit starter pack ... this yearas award winners were full of colourful ideas and vibrant visual flourishes

Thousands of photographers from 65 countries around the world submitted their best pictures taken with the aid of drones, helicopters and planes. The top award went to Sebastien Nagy of Belgium, but there were many other outstanding photographs, as this selection shows

The winners have been announced in the Luminar bug photography awards 2020 in association with Europeas leading invertebrate charity, Buglife.

In their inaugural year, the Luminar bug photography awards have attracted an astonishing variety and quality of work from around the world. More than 800 photographers made submissions

We take a look at the singular style of the Fleetwood Mac lead singer, which has inspired designers and fans alike

Trump will be under pressure to soften his display compared with the first debate, which was widely criticized as bullying

Donald Trump has his last chance to move the dial in the fast-approaching US presidential election on Thursday night, when he addresses a large nationwide audience at the final televised presidential debate.

Trump will face his Democratic rival Joe Biden at 9pm ET at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The candidates are expected to attract viewership in the tens of millions of Americans for their 90-minute encounter, giving the US president one last crack at shifting a race that has had him trailing the former vice-president for weeks.

• Democrats to boycott Senate judiciary committee vote on Barrett
• Trump and Biden to have second TV debate in Nashville
• Obama returns to campaign trail for Biden
• FBI warns Russia and Iran obtained US voter data
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9.53am BST

As youad expect thereas been a response from China to news that the state department is designating the US operations of six more China-based media companies as foreign missions. Mike Pompeo announced the move, saying was aimed at pushing back against communist propaganda.

The state department named the newly designated publications as the Yicai Global, Jiefang Daily, the Xinmin Evening News, Social Sciences in China Press, the Beijing Review, and the Economic Daily. It brought to 15 the number of Chinese media outlets listed in this way this year.

9.45am BST

Chuck Schumer was clearly in a combative mood overnight. As well as that appearance on the Rachel Maddow show, he tweeted out a campaign ad highlighting all the times that president Donald Trump has promised that he is going to produce a new healthcare plan for the US, saying aThe election is less than two weeks away, so itas probably about time for President Trump to lie again that he has a healthcare plan that will come out in two weeks.a

The election is less than two weeks away, so itas probably about time for President Trump to lie again that he has a healthcare plan that will come out in two weeks. pic.twitter.com/k1WgEZ9dMT

In rare news conference, the director of national security says Iran has sent spoofed emails to intimidate voters

Russia and Iran have obtained some US voting registration information and are attempting to sow unrest in the upcoming election, the governmentas national intelligence director said in a rare news conference Wednesday night.

aWe have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails, designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump,a said John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence.

Reimagining of Claude Monetas Impressionist water lilies easily surpassed expectations at Sothebyas event

Banksyas reimagining of Claude Monetas impressionist water lilies has fetched more than APS7.5m at auction, easily surpassing expectations.

Show Me The Monet was created in 2005 and adds abandoned shopping trolleys and a traffic cone to the famous garden scene.

Mike Pompeo says move is part of efforts to push back against apropaganda effortsa; Chinese state media says Beijing will retaliate

The state department is designating the US operations of six more China-based media companies as foreign missions, US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has announced, a move said was aimed at pushing back against communist propaganda.

The US would also launch a dialogue on China with the European Union on Friday, Pompeo said, and that on Sunday he would begin a trip to India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia.

Prayuth Chan-ocha seeks to end conflict but protesters give him deadline to resign

Thailandas prime minister has lifted severe emergency measures imposed last week to halt months of pro-democracy protests that instead sparked even bigger, nationwide rallies against his government and the monarchy.

Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army general who first came to power in the 2014 coup, said on Wednesday he was moving to de-escalate the situation, adding that the country amust now step back from the edge of the slippery slope that can easily slide to chaosa.

Spain becomes first western European country to pass 1m cases; Rome among latest to bring in curfew; German health minister has Covid-19

• Number of US states seeing record one-day deaths rises to six
• Spain is first western European country to pass 1m cases
• 300,000 excess US deaths recorded as Cathay Pacific cuts 5,900 jobs
  
• Women aged 50-60 at greatest risk of along Covida, experts suggest
• See all our coronavirus coverage

9.43am BST

Covid-19 cases are increasing across the United States and surging in the upper midwest, in what appears to be a third pandemic peak, writes Jessica Glenza for the Guardian US.

In North Dakota, cases are increasing at a higher and faster rate per capita than in any other state throughout the pandemic so far.

Related: Covid cases increase across US as upper midwest sees rapid rise

9.41am BST

This month the school scrapped several longstanding and unwritten rules that governed the behaviour of students for decades

For more than a century the Takarazuka Music School has transformed thousands of young women from unpolished amateurs into accomplished singers, dancers and actors who perform to sell-out audiences with kitsch adaptations of everything from Japanese manga to classic western novels.

But the school, based in the Japanese hot spring resort from which it takes its name, is not just in the business of nurturing talent.

Republican-controlled state board of education reinforces curriculum that flies in the face of a 21st-century reality and proves dangerous for kids

The morning after Lauryn had hung out with friends, she awoke feeling physically dirty, like she needed a shower.

Her guilt lingered for days, and at first, she chalked it up to some kind of side-effect from alcohol, since they had been drinking. But after discovering an article on the basics of consent, she suddenly understood why she felt so used.

The rollicking song about the souring of the 60s has now spawned a film, a musical and a childrenas book. Its creator talks about its meaning a and reveals the family deaths underlying it

When Don McLean was 15 years old, he had a premonition that his father was going to die. Distraught, he ran to tell his grandmother. aDonat be ridiculous, Donny, why would you say such a thing?a she said. aBecause itas going to happen,a the boy replied. A few days later, his father dropped dead right in front of him. aI saw how he looked,a says McLean. aHead turned green. I didnat know what I was going to do without him. He was the king, the boss. He knew everything.a

The singer-songwriter behind the 1971 classic American Pie is speaking from his home in Palm Desert, a town in California where he is now well into what he calls the adesert phasea of his life. Wildfires are still burning across the state. You canat see the sun for the acrid smoke. aIam feeling it in my lungs,a says the 75-year-old.

In the 1930s, thousands of men and women around the world enlisted to fight fascism in Spain. Many survivors went on to play a key role in the fight against the Nazis a but, in some cases, later became powerful servants of brutal regimes

Virgilio FernA!ndez del Real sent his last testament via WhatsApp on 28 November 2019. I opened the video to see him propped up in bed at his colonial-era haASSienda in Guanajuato, Mexico. Bloodshot eyes peered out above a rampant white beard. A big red, gold and purple flag, representing Spainas short-lived republican democracy from the 1930s, was spread out behind him. aMy birthday is on 26 December, when I will be 101,a he wheezed in Spanish, though he clearly did not believe he would make it. aI still have the strength to say: aA!Viva la RepAoblica EspaA+-ola!aa

Nine days before that birthday, his wife, Estela, sent another message: aFifteen minutes ago, Virgilio went on his journey to the Fatheras house, transcending into the infinite. He is no longer suffering.a

We take a look at the singular style of the Fleetwood Mac lead singer, which has inspired designers and fans alike

Legal experts note role female lawyers took in confronting far-right partyas violent tactics

Behind the bench, before her mostly male audience, as the marathon trial of Golden Dawn entered its last act, supreme court justice Maria Lepenioti did what she has done every week: she kept the peace.

It has not been easy. Emotions have often run high. Even as the curtain is about to come down on proceedings with a ruling on if those convicted will be jailed before an appeal can be heard, the Greek judge, both laconic and low-key, has had to pull off an extraordinary balancing act presiding over a case that has put more Nazi leaders and sympathisers in the dock than at any time since Nuremberg.

There are many means by which government and the market can improve opportunities

Inequality has been seizing ever more of the publicas attention in recent years, reflected everywhere from papal encyclicals and economic tomes by French socialists to technical academic debates and the demotic language of politicians and pundits. The health and economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have further elevated these concerns.

But which aspect of inequality should we be worried about? There are inequalities of opportunity and inequalities of outcome; there is overall inequality and there is inequality at the tails of the distribution. Should we be more worried about absolute or relative positions a mobility or stability? What is really more important, the distribution of the economic pie or the level and growth of living standards?

• Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 Los Angeles Dodgers
• Brandon Lowe stars for Tampa Bay with two home runs

Brandon Lowe busted out early and Tampa Bayas bullpen hung on late. The Rays and Dodgers, are now tied after two games in Texas.

Lowe shook loose from his extended postseason slump with two opposite-field homers, and Tampa Bay held off Los Angeles 6-4 on Wednesday night to square the World Series at one game apiece.

The Guardian US data editor, Mona Chalabi, casts a sceptical eye over the US polling industry that is once again predicting defeat for Donald Trump. Has it learned lessons from 2016?

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 came as a hammer-blow not just for Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party but also for the opinion polling industry. While they had correctly predicted her majority in the popular vote, they had catastrophically missed the bigger story: Trump had won in the key swing states to clinch the presidency via the electoral college.

The Guardianas US data editor, Mona Chalabi, tells Anushka Asthana that following 2016, the pollsters tweaked their models as they ate humble pie, but this year they are back to projecting the results with similar confidence: and once again they are predicting a defeat for Donald Trump. But have those trends they missed in 2016 been properly accounted for? And should parts of the media be far more sceptical than they currently are about the scientific-sounding claims of the major polling sites?

The artist talks about the work behind his first ever New York show, Black Vessel, and why white supremacy still threatens vital cultural institutions

aFor a year and a half, I was constantly heating them the fuck up,a jokes artist, professor and social innovator Theaster Gates of the laborious brick-making process behind Black Vessel, his first-ever New York show, which opened earlier this month at Gagosian.

Related: 'My duty as a black man': the artist preserving gazebo where police killed Tamir Rice

In her 20s, she set up her own company, publishing everyone from James Ellroy to the Worst Witch series, and changing Britain for the better, book by book

There is a revealing story Margaret Busby tells, about the first novel she published. A family friend had bumped into a former US serviceman called Sam Greenlee. Greenlee said he had written a novel, rejected by 40 American publishers, a satirical thriller about the first African American man hired by the CIA but given a very visible non-job (the point being it was only to improve the CIAas image). The man keeps his head down, learns about guerrilla warfare, then quits to become a freedom fighter in Chicago. Busby took it on, borrowing money so Greenlee could stay in London while the book was edited and, when it was about to be published, in 1969, she sent it to the Observer.

The paper refused it a it didnat extract fiction and certainly not black power novels. Busby sent it back, insisting the paper was wrong. It ran an extract, and The Spook Who Sat By the Door was translated into six languages and turned into a film. When this aparable of institutional racisma, as the New York Times described the film, opened in 1973, newspapers wondered if it would start race warfare. It closed early under FBI pressure, and was not reissued until 2004, then, nearly a decade later, added to the Library of Congressas National Film Registry.

Anatomy lessons for kids, gorillas going bananas and a Brexit starter pack ... this yearas award winners were full of colourful ideas and vibrant visual flourishes

Senator Tom Udallas a30 by 30a proposal seeks to align US with international goals to protect and preserve global ecosystems

A US senator has introduced a proposal to conserve 30% of the countryas lands and seas in the next 10 years, amid a surge of similar proposals.

Sundayas referendum could mean end for 1980 constitution that allowed privatization to flourish and led to widespread inequality

Carlos Hinrichs clearly remembers the fear and repression of the Pinochet years.

His father was jailed for supporting Salvador Allende, the leftwing president deposed in Chileas 1973 military coup. His mother and sister were dismissed from their university positions. He saw classmates shot dead at protests.

Rainy weather means households are struggling to find affordable ingredients for spicy pickle

South Koreans are facing a shortage of a beloved dietary staple after a summer of extreme weather destroyed crops of cabbages a the main ingredient of kimchi.

In what is being described a full-blown crisis, fields of Napa, or Chinese cabbages were wiped out in August and September, when the Korean peninsula was struck by typhoons, floods and landslides, sparking a sudden spike in the vegetableas price.

Many officers of color feel pressure to assimilate into the force, but are also seen as sellouts by their community

As a child in the early 1980s, LeRonne Armstrong spent much of the summer watching cartoons at his grandmaas apartment in west Oaklandas Acorn Projects. The public housing development would later become notorious as the site where Black Panther co-founder Huey Newton was killed in 1989, but for Armstrongas mother, it was where she sent her three children for safekeeping as crack began menacing the city and violent crime was on the rise.

One morning while Armstrong sat around the TV with his siblings and cousins, Oakland police officers kicked in the door, guns drawn. They had a warrant for Armstrongas uncle, who was allegedly involved in the drug trade. They pointed their weapons at the children, then proceeded to ransack the home, flipping over furniture and ripping the stuffing from the bottom of couches. Armstrong recalls the officers agoing into cabinets and pouring cereal outa.

The winners have been announced in the Luminar bug photography awards 2020 in association with Europeas leading invertebrate charity, Buglife.

In their inaugural year, the Luminar bug photography awards have attracted an astonishing variety and quality of work from around the world. More than 800 photographers made submissions